Robinhood, a popular stock and cryptocurrency investing app that doesn’t charge fees, is reportedly set to raise $200 million in a new funding round, which will value the company at between $7 and $8 billion.
According to Bloomberg, the investments are coming from existing investors that asked not to be identified as the details are private. The funding round could be followed by another which could see the company’s valuation hit $10 billion, the news outlet reports.
These numbers are subject to change until the deal is closed. Last year, the California-based start raised funds at a $5.6 billion valuation. As covered the company has considered an initial public offering (IPO).
Robinhood has been growing at a rapid pace thanks to its premise of no fees for stock and cryptocurrency trading. The company already has 4 million users, but things weren’t always easy. Speaking to Business Insider’s US Editor-in-Chief on the “Success! How I Did It” podcast, co-founder Vlad Tenev stated:
There were a lot of people who didn't believe in it, and we had to bang down a ton of doors. We were really relentless.
Currently, the company lets users buy seven different cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ether, litecoin, and dogecoin. Recently, it expanded its cryptocurrency trading service to New York, thanks to the BitLicense it received in January of this year.
In March of this year Robinhood made its first major acquisition, as it acquired MarketSnacks, a top rated financial newsletter and podcast with “thousands of subscribers.” The firm rebranded it to “Robinhood Snacks” after the acquisition.
Nick Martell, one of the co-founders of MarketSnacks, noted at the time that despite the acquisition the newsletter was going to remain independent from the rest of the company, and the team was “committed to a set of editorial principles, just like any committed news organization.”
